Florida Family Rescue Beached Dolphin Stranded Near Fort George Island (VIDEO)

Kerry Ware and her family were on a boat near Fort George Island, Fla., when they saw a beached dolphin stranded on a sandbar, ABC News reports.

"It was just flapping and it looked really helpless so we stopped the boat to see what was going on," Ware told Local 10 News.

Grabbing the dolphin by the tail, Ware and her father George Heheman pulled the animal -- which they said weighed about 300 pounds -- to deeper waters, saving her in the nick of time.

"It was only about four inches of water left on the sandbar," Heheman told Local 10 News. "When we got over there I knew we had to get that dolphin off the sandbar or we'd have never moved her."

The rescue video, which was captured on camera by her 11-year-old son Justin, was posted on Ware's YouTube channel. In the caption, Ware said that the dolphin and her calf had been trying to get out of a tidal creek when the mother got stranded.

Once the mother dolphin had been pulled to safety, Ware wrote that they herded the young calf -- who had been waiting nearby -- to deeper water and the two dolphins swam away together.

"[It] made our day," she wrote, adding that reuniting the dolphin and her calf had been a "super experience".

Last month, The Huffington Post reported that 30 dolphins were rescued by beachgoers in Brazil when the stranded animals were helped back into deeper waters.

Watch that rescue video here:

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Comments

[srhcrawford]

05:38 PM on 04/11/2012

And they say dolphins are smart.

[Bertski]

09:19 AM on 06/13/2012

Funny. They say the same thing about humans.

[lakeinsky1]

01:12 PM on 04/11/2012

dolfins are great- they understand so much it's fantastic, which is probably why the Navy uses them and trains them- for more about what the dolfins are really able to do-- Google, why do dolfins help humans-- interesting, the're really smart- we owe them a clean ocean! -yes we do

[Clarity22]

08:15 AM on 04/11/2012

Bless them, dolphins are known to save humans so what goes around comes around :)

[Produce guy]

07:25 PM on 04/10/2012

There really are good people in the world! Great job guys.

[eriksgarden]

06:05 PM on 04/10/2012

Bless them! Yay!

[ioncat]

03:36 PM on 04/10/2012

Outstanding, nice to read a feel good story!

[Felicia Hunter]

03:29 PM on 04/10/2012

you have to love the love people share with dolphins. Sometime we go our whole lives without seeing a dolphin in person but the second we see one in trouble we jump into action.

[jgprince59]

03:21 PM on 04/10/2012

Way to go you guys! God Bless your family.

[lovebeingme]

02:38 PM on 04/10/2012

Beautiful story that touches the heart!

[jbjg24m]

02:15 PM on 04/10/2012

these ppl were at the right place at the right time

[Janna03]

02:07 PM on 04/10/2012

I read a story just yesterday about a dolphin helping some stranded fishermen who were about to be attacked by sharks. The dolphin drove the sharks off basically. How many times have we all read about dolphins helping people. Beautiful animals! Nice when we can help them out!

[Daneyra]

02:28 PM on 04/10/2012

i have never heard of that but it is amazing how smart thosse animals are. :)

[lovebeingme]

02:38 PM on 04/10/2012

I read that article too. Not only did the dolphins run the sharks away. But they stayed with the men for a few hours after. The men felt they were staying to make sure the sharks didn't come back.

[DebbieRdmn0810]

01:57 PM on 04/10/2012

HOORAY!

[silkstalkings99]

01:48 PM on 04/10/2012

Bless you Mrs. Ware and your family for saving these beautiful, intelligent, and gentle creatures! We are bombarded daily with horrible things, it is sooooooooo nice to hear such a beautiful and positive story! May you and your family be blessed tenfold for your act of kindness!

[Rosey61158]

01:40 PM on 04/10/2012

Most people aren't so bad. The media just likes to high light all the bad stuff. Most of the time, most people are helpful and thoughtful.
It's a pleasure to watch such a simple act of kindness.

[Robert Manuel Estrada]

01:39 PM on 04/10/2012

How refreshing to witness these unselfish acts of love. Thanks for such a heart warming video